Quote:
Originally Posted by 5abi
Forgive my first post here:
But how do we celebrate Ovechkin so much when he's such a strong Putin advocate?
genuine question! and hello all, been watching this forum since I was 21, 19 years ago. It's been fun.
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This is a great quest, thanks for asking. Given the current political climate I think it's worth examining what we do when something we love is created by somebody we consider to be a bad person.
Ultimately it's whatever lets you sleep at night. If you can separate sports / entertainment from politics, great, just do that. Some might argue that being able to do so comes from a place of privilege, that you can only ignore the bad things the artist does because they don't affect you. That is true to a certain extent, it's much easier to ignore support for Putin here than in Ukraine. Still we all deserve entertainment and escapism, so if somebody in Ukraine loves hockey and wants to see the all time scoring record broken, who are we to judge them? And if we're not judging them, why should we judge you?
Still, many people want to do more than that. Here's some ways they do so.
Raising Awareness / Slactivism / Virtue Signaling
What you call this depends on your perspective, but the basic idea is just talking about the issue. Saying things like "No matter what you think about Ovechkin's support of Putin, this goal is amazing!", or even asking the question you did. Letting people know about the problems surrounding the individual in question. Great when it sparks discussion like this, but can also feel draining when every conversation around somebody comes with caveats. Also you might get accused of grand standing if all you do is talk, and never back it up with action, or performative activism if you only talk about the latest trends. Still, introducing new people to an issue they weren't aware of is valuable, jut watch out for echo chambers.
Ethical Consumption / Boycotting / Canceling
Once again, lots of different terms for overlapping ideas. This is voting with your wallet, and (when combined with the above) encouraging others to do the same. It comes from the feeling that you cannot justify giving your money to somebody you consider bad. This can be as simple as refusing to purchase a Ovechkin jersey, or doing business with companies that sponsor him. Maybe you stop watching Capitals games in hopes of lowering advertising value. You can even try to stop giving the NHL any money, canceling all your subscriptions and TV packages, and avoiding all sports bars that show the game, and stop purchasing from any of their sponsors for so long as they continue to employee him or other bad individuals (good luck with that). Unfortunately you as an individual are a drop in the bucket, and any choices you make as an individual does not affect their bottom line.
A couple extra notes on this topic. First, Piracy. A lot of people will vote with their wallet by deciding to still consume the media of people they dislike, but pirate it instead of pay for it. This does feel better, but can often be just as harmful. If you have an author you dislike because of how they treat a marginalized community, don't pay for their work, but still participate in their fandom and and community, to those marginalized individuals you still appear to be supporting that author. It is better to spend your money on works created by members of that community, and your time promoting them. Secondly, this form of thinking is inherently capitalist in nature, tying your value to what people are willing to pay you, and giving value to anything you spend money on. So ethical consumption may not matter to individuals and communities who do not share that form of thinking.
Actual Activism
This is spending time taking actions to counteract whatever bad the individual is doing. This could be supporting Ukraine refugees, organizing protests, getting involved in politics, or smaller things like calling your representatives, or organizing a book club. The best way to counteract bad in the world is to do good. We might not have the reach or scope of the problematic artists we oppose, but there are a lot more of us.
Focusing on a Different Issue
There are too many bad people doing too many bad things out there to worry about all of them. It's best to focus on a few issues rather than try to handle everything. If you're busy helping house the homeless, or supporting those losing their rights under a changing government, or making sure students aren't going hungry, you don't have to spend energy worrying about Ovechkin. In fact it's better not to. We can't have everybody who is trying to make the world a better place burn out because they've spread themselves too thin trying to fix too many problems.
So how do you celebrate Ovechkin so much when he's such a strong Putin advocate? That's up to you.
For me, I enjoy him as a hockey player and the entertainment of the goal race. I will celebrate when he beats Gretzky's record because it is a great achievement, and Edmonton is No Good. What I will not do is support his political views, share them or give them a platform. Generally I feel that Ukraine has broad global support, and there is no need for me to spend my energy to further that. Right now I'm focusing on broadening my views and the views of those I interact with through sharing well researched articles from researchers and independent journalists on topics of AI, Trans Health and Gaza. I wish I had the time and energy to do more, but have my own mental health and the health of my partner to prioritize at the moment.
I hope this didn't get too political for the hockey discussion. I tried to keep it unbiased, but am very left leaning myself (if the capitalism comment didn't give it away).
